


Storm's Rising

by FabulousBeings



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: F/M, Mention of Birth, Oneshot, RiverClan (Warriors), mention of dead, posthumous birth, warriors rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-23 21:40:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 927
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19159513
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FabulousBeings/pseuds/FabulousBeings
Summary: When Willowbreeze died, Crookedstar couldn't explain his feelings. Silverkit was all he had left. Then something odd happened.A Ficlet from my Warriors Rewrite!





	Storm's Rising

    Mudfur had left long ago, Crookedstar hadn’t thought much of it; Willowbreeze was lying dead before him. Her fur was limp against her cooling body, still smelling of sickness and death. The beautiful molly was still and Crookedstar waited, hoping that he was dreaming and she would prod him awake in their shared nest, licking his ear in a soothing fashion. Her belly still swollen with the kits she would soon give birth to while in perfect health. It never happened. Her breathing had stopped what felt like moons ago and the scent began rising in a terrible fashion, filling the tiny den and making it feel smaller than it already was. It made a foul mixture with the warm scent of milk. Crookedstar began to rise, ready to move Willowbreeze from the den to remove the worry-scent from the queens. Silverkit lay asleep with her foster mother; she had long since had her fill with milk and was now resting peacefully.  
   She should be at Willowbreeze’s belly. The thought was bitter in the back of Crookedstar’s mind. It was no cat’s fault. Not even Mapleshade could’ve forced sickness into the living. Despite what she would like, the Drowned Mother’s influence couldn’t affect the living. She had tricked him into thinking all his torment was her doing while in reality, she only watched in morbid amusement as the world spat tragedy at him after tragedy. Crookedstar shoved the thought away as he moved to pick his deceased mate up.  
As soon as he touched her pelt, the she-cat stirred. The tabby lept away in shock as her stomach began to contract. Her silver pelt shimmered in the sparse nursery light as the fur shifted. “Mudfur!” Crookedstar called out to the medicine cat in confusion. At his call, Sunfish’s head lifted from her paws. “What’s happening?” She meowed, her voice raspy from rest. The kits resting at her belly stirred at her sudden movement, mewling out in frustration.  
It didn’t take long for Mudfur to poke his end into the nursery, chest heaving. “Is everything alright? Has something happened to Silverkit?” His question came out rushed and muffled behind the bundle of herbs he had brought with him. His tone changed as his eyes fell onto Willowbreeze’s form. The brown tomcat rushed forward, nearly knocking Crookedstar out of the nursery.  
   “Is she alive? How can that be? Did she-” Crookedstar’s frantic meows were silenced by Sunfish. “Let him work. He can’t tell if you keep yowling.” Her voice was steady, but her eyes betrayed her apparent calm. Her pelt was ruffled, ears so far forward Crookedstar thought they’d move onto her face. Mudfur was silent for a few moments before he cried out in surprise. His hunched form obscured Willowbreeze’s body, but his shock made it apparent that something had happened. Then a shrill cry cut through the silence. The cry of a kit.  
   “What’s happened?” Sunfish cried out as she moved to check the kits resting in her nest. “It wasn’t them,” Mudfur meowed quietly.  
   “What do you mean?” Crookedstar’s voice was shakey as Mudfur bent his head low. The bundle of herbs he had brought in with him for Silverkit lay next to him as he began to unroll the bunch. He started working in silence, shoulder’s hunched as the kitten-cries continued. With the sound, Sunfish’s nest grew noisy as the newest mewls caused disturbance among the littlest of Riverclan.  
   Mudfur’s silence was making Crookedstar’s mind race. What was happening? Just as he opened his mouth to ask, Mudfur sighed loudly. Something in his mouth squirmed as he placed it in Sunfish’s nest, beckoning her over with his tail. She gasped as she quickly settled herself in the nest, tailing curling around whatever Mudfur had placed in the nest. Growing impatient, Crookedstar shouldered his way past Mudfur, peering into the nest at Sunfish’s belly.  
   At first, he didn’t notice. Vixenkit, Grasskit, Frogkit, Mistkit, and Silverkit lay at Sunfish’s belly, latched on and feeding. A quick glance caught his eye; another patch of silvery fur lay in the nest. At first, Crookedstar thought it was nothing but a patch of Willowbreeze’s fur - perhaps placed in the nest to sooth Silverkit - but the spots decorating the fur made him think otherwise. Then it moved. And then again. It was a kit. Crookedstar’s head whipped up, eyes staring straight into Mudfur’s. “What is this?” he growled, eyes narrowing.  
   Mudfur’s eye didn’t quite meet his leader’s. “I’d only heard about this sort of thing,” his meow was so quiet, Crookedstar was sure he wouldn’t have heard it if not for his sharp hearing. “Yellowfang had spoken about it. Where a queen dies during kitbirth, a kit can be born after the she-cat has died. I thought she was exaggerating. A molly so close to death giving birth made more sense than a dead one.” Crookedstar didn’t know if Mudfur had said anything after that, though if he had, the words went right past him. He lowered himself onto the ground, nose pressed against the new kit. Sunfish didn’t try to push him away.  
   “Crookedstar.” Mudfur’s voice sounded strained. Crookedstar didn’t look up at the medicine cat, but his ear twitched in acknowledgment. “It’s a tomkit. He seems healthy enough, if not a bit hungry. I think he’ll survive with Silverkit, but he will need to be watched as same as her.” He paused. “What did you want to call him?” Crookedstar’s eyes never left his son.  
   “Stormkit. In hope that he can be all that I wasn’t able to be.”

**Author's Note:**

> There will be an added work to explain the updated parts of the series. Such as Stormkit's purpose. I will stay that mostly I've added characters for realism along with an algorithm that I've developed specifically for it.


End file.
